Capped armor-piercing projectile.



UNITED .sTATEs I CHARLES VAN CISE WHEELER AN D'ALEXANDER GEORGE MCKEN NA, OF WASHINGTON,

DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, ASSIGNORS TO BIRTH CORPORATION 0F l?IENNSYLVANIA.`

PATENT oEEioE.

STERLING STEEL COMPANY, A

CAPPED ARMOR-PIERCING PROJECTILE.

To all whom it may conce/"n:

Be it known thatwe, Criaturas VAN Cisa WHEELER and ALEXANDER GEORGE Mc- KENNA, both citizens of the United States of America, and residents ot llasliington', in the District of Columbia., United States of America, have invented certain new and useful ln'iprovements in Gapped i-Xrmor-liercing Projeetiles, of which the following is a specification, accompanied by drawings. 'lhe invention relates to capped armor piercing projectiles and its object is to produce a capped projectile which will have very good armor piercing qualities at long range as well as at short range. 'lhis we have accomplished by the means illustrated in the accompanying drawings7 whereinlfigure l is a longitudinal section on reduced scale of the forward part ot' a six inch armor piercing capped projectile embodying the present iinprorement, and Fig. 9. is a modilication ot' the same. I

ln Fig. l the projectile point is shown at l. and the cap at C. 'lhe projectile point is prel'eri-.bly ot' the ogival form illustrated. 'l`he cap is hollow. affording a chamber .ll immediatelyY around the nose ot' the project- -ile but providing a solid and substantiallv massive convergent tip in lront ot the hol- .'LO'

low lor facilitating the penetration of the nose into the plate-upon impact. The walls ol the hollow cap extend well downen the sides ol the projectile point and meet those .sides almost tangeutially. 'lhe entire cap is of conoidal t'orm. preferably as illustrated, which converges torward from the walls' ot' the projectile in a long' gentle contour tor the purpose ol minimizing air resistance ot' the flight. ot' the projectile. This gives a long conoidal cap the length of which imite- -rially exceeds one caliber, as will be apparent from the drawings. The hollow ll in front'. of thevnose ol thc projectile leaves', as will be seen, a very considerable interval be f tween the nose ot' the projectile and the tip ot' the cap, and this all'ords time for the tip to flatten against the lace ot' the plate that is attacked, while the nose of the projectile is traversing the said interval. Both the tip ol' thel cap and the tip olA the projectile point may be truncated or flattened 'for a small area without material ell'ecton flight or penetra t ion.

Serial No. 505,930.

highly ductile tough steel, whereby at impact the tip ot the cap may on becoming tiattened -still present to the nose of the prol jeetilc an unbroken relatively soft face, upon Patented Mar. 1, 1910. 'l

We prefer to make the cap oi soft anclthe plate attacked, lnr the nose of the projectile to penetrate.

. In Big. 2 we have shown the cap C continued to a sharp point inside and out, the

shell point P being also sharp tipped.-

This sharp cap reduces the wind resistance slightly more than Figi but is less desirable as-V it requires -much greater deformation of the tip in flattening out at impact.

l-V e do not mean to assert that the tip of our cap entirely tiattens out uponthe armor plate to present a soft surface thereon by the time the nose of the projectile begins to penetrate it but we have reason to believe it does, nor do we wish to be limitedto any theory as to why our long conoidal hollow point converging to. a tip located at some ddstance in front of the nose ot' the projectile operates .ztisfactorily upon impact, Without impairing the flight.

We make no claim merely to the long external contour ot the cap considered by itself as the means of giving a flat trajectory and reducing the energy lost in Hight at ltmg range and we disclaim a light wind shield not designed nor intended to act as a massive soft cap to facilitate penetration at impact.

lVhile we are not able to exactly state the best weight for our improved'cap, we preer `to approximate the formula given 1n our United Statesv Patent`875,022l of December 3l, 1907 and to give to the projectile itself a lon point and relatively blunted nose as set torth in our United States Patent 721,487 of February 24, 1903. j

We claim and desire to secure the following:

l. A capped armor iercing projectile having a cap of relative y soft and ductile material and of conoidal form of length exceeding one caliber, hollow immediately .around and forward of the nose of the projectile and solid and substantially massive in front of such hollow to provide material to facilitate penetration of the projectile nose at impact for substantially the purposes set forth.

2. L cupped :n.mm' pereng projectile prmfded with. .1 hollow @up of relatively soft and duekile material adapted to facb tete penetli'aieu ef the nose of the project:- .le ein impneL, said cup having Walls which converge ferwuxd from the surface of the rojeetlle zo n solid massive tip se arzted mm the pm njwee nose by the holow of the cup, whmfmy the Suid tip may Hatten upon :1 ehm :1t impact While the nose is traversing the Simi hollow, substantially 11s mi: forth.

.fn heszimoh whereof we have signed this {specicntion in the presence of two sub scxihmg wlhlesses June 28th 1900,

CHARLES VAN OISE Wllllihh. ALEXANDER GEORGE MCKHNNA.

\ I fitnesses as to the signature of Chur-les Van Cise Wheeler:

E. A. LYCETT, R. H. CARLIN. Witnesses as to the signature of Alexander Gerge McKenna:

ERNEST J. STEnmNs, WALTER ANDERSON.- 

